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by kenn on 12/08/2004 11:59:00 AM

JAY-Z, DASH SPLIT IN $10M UNIVERSAL DEAL

Source:NYP

Hip-hop mogul Jay-Z's rocky relationship with business partner Damon Dash is now officially over, The Post has learned.
Jay-Z and Dash, who have been partners in Roc-A-Fella Records with Universal Music, inked a deal this week with Universal that will allow the two partners to go their separate ways, according to a source close to the negotiations.

Universal agreed to buy the 50 percent of Roc-A-Fella it doesn't already own for less than $10 million, according to the source. In 1997, Roc-A-Fella sold a 50 percent stake to Universal's Island Def Jam for $1.5 million.

Universal had an option to buy the stake, which would have come due in the summer.

Roc-A-Fella will be folded into Island Def Jam, and become a small-imprint label, sources said.

The Post first reported the negotiations to unwind the partnership earlier this year.

Jay-Z remains in negotiations with Universal over a top executive job at Island Def Jam, a development first reported by The Post in August.

Dash is talking with Universal about launching another venture in partnership with the music giant, a source said.

Jay-Z also has been discussing a possible deal with Warner Music, where former Def Jam chief Lyor Cohen works as CEO of Warner Music's U.S. recorded-music division. Jay-Z could get either an executive post or his own label at Warner.

The rapper, who has said he is retired as a recording artist, would still be obliged to make new albums with Universal should he decide to come out of retirement.

The source of tension between the business partners has been Jay-Z's belief that Dash, who has been CEO of Roc-A-Fella, has been trying to become too much of a star himself, and was beginning to overshadow some of the label's artists, according to sources.

Dash also persisted in pushing Roc-A-Fella into the film industry, something Jay-Z resisted, sources have said.